TRPG General Chat

Ben

00:04

Sup yall

Miniman

@Ben That's quite difficult to define, but generally we would consider the direction opposite to the direction of the strongest gravity pull to be "up".

Shalvenay

hey there @Ben, how're things going?

Ben

@Miniman Quite profound

@Shalvenay Not too bad... I've been pulled into the world of Bloodborne Lore haha

Shalvenay

heheh

alright here, although still scratching my head at how some people refuse to understand how Stacks work

Ben

00:20

@Shalvenay You get two main types of users

"Help me fix it": These users are often used to forums, where they can ignore everything else, post that "I have a problem", and wait for people to respond directly to them, rather than bothering to actually read and find a solution themselves. These are often the ones that respond to questions asking to define the problem, with "I dunno, fix it"

They also do not seem to understand that an "Answer" is not an invitation to ask another question

Shalvenay

@Ben they also are quite bad at paying attention to comments asking for more info

Ben

Then, you have the "I'm new here" user: These users appear apologetic when they might not meet the requirements the site has in place. Generally much better, but can still go in two directions - either they actually fix the problems, and become members of the stack, and actually contribute, or just decide "nah, too hard, I'll just go back to the forums where there's no rules"

Shalvenay

@Ben yeah, once they get past any initial helmet-fires from a help dogpile, they can do OK

Ben

You do get other users, but those are the main two I've experienced

Shalvenay

you get some odd folks in like the 100-few thousand rep band as well

occasionally users just sort of fizzle out there and lose track of the program (you also get users that plateau in that range due to intermittent activity but that's OK)

those are the folks who really get into scraps on Meta and stuff

BESW

00:38

Phrase of the day: "I was a little confused, but then I realized I could look it up."

Ben

@BESW what's this in reference to?

BESW

Oh, somebody's being snarky about a guy abusing the word auteur.

Ben

@Shalvenay That reminds me of a user over on Arqade (that has since left/been removed). One user, Frank, is what some people might call brutal, but he's just straight-forward and to the point (using him as a reference). Any way, this other user was way more critical of anything anyone provided. Almost any question/answer he commented on was followed by a (usually) long argument about the validity of an answer, or the usefulness of a queation.

They likely left because that just seems like way too much efoort

@BESW [googles]

@BESW Ah. yes. quite

Adeptus

01:34

In today's episode of Adeptus vs 3.5 character optimisation... I'm thinking of trying to build a Druid-variant (Deadly Hunter & Druidic Avenger) / Deepwarden / Fist of the Forest / Bear Warrior... End result, a nature-focused rager with some spellcasting. Some of the abilities look like they'll work together well, not sure if they all will.

Ben

@Adeptus Yup. My brain is definitely on the fritz. I can't shake the fact that sounds like a Power Ranger for some reason

Miniman

@Adeptus It's certainly flavourful.

Adeptus

I've seen builds using those PrCs on a Barbarian base, but was basically wondering how well the Druid-with-rage variant would work in its place. Also gets Monk's unarmored AC (plus 2x Con to AC from the PrCs), and 2x Fast Movement

Miniman

I guess what it comes down to is trading some BAB and some hitpoints for a bit of spellcasting.

Ah, you also lose Pounce, which is awkward.

Adeptus

01:49

From spiritual totem? Yeah... unless you can convince the DM that "identical to the Barbarian ability" means that it can be traded in for the same ACFs as Barbarian

Interestingly, the 2 druid variants in UA replace different features, so can be taken together... one gives Fast Movement as Barbarian, the other gives Fast Movement as Monk (among other things)

Miniman

I think it just exemplifies the nature of the Druid - they have three major class features they can trade away.

Adeptus

@Miniman Also unarmored AC as Monk, favored enemy & track as Ranger

Miniman

@Adeptus True, although there's an argument to be made about MAD with the Monk AC.

Adeptus

You need some wis for the druid spellcasting anyway

Ben

@Adeptus Ok... maybe not as frazzled as I though... powerrangers.wikia.com/wiki/…

Not sure how "Stealth god" lines up with "bear" or "Stomp Attack that generates earthquakes strong enough to knock giant yokai off their feet or even to crack the earth open" though

@shalvenay here's an example of your conundrum

Shalvenay

02:11

@Ben yeah, the user in question is making some attempt to respond to requests for elaboration at least, though

I have what probably is the opposite problem though:

where I'll take the time to write up a reasonably sound question and it will just sit there unloved for all time

or get like a burst of comments and then basically nothing

Ben

@Shalvenay Such as?

Shalvenay

0

Q: What smoke control requirements are placed on duplex/townhouse party walls?

The IRC requires a one-hour rated fire separation between the dwelling units of a duplex in R302.3. Likewise, it requires a two-hour rated fire separation between each dwelling unit in a townhouse in R302.2. However, one complaint that I've heard about these party walls (multiple times even, bot...

4

Q: Type AC cable -- why is it still made/used?

Old-style armored cable (Type AC) is still made and widely distributed. Why is this, given that type MC cable is more versatile (more conductor configurations, more Code-permitted applications) than type AC cable by far, and the new type MCI-A products coming out eliminate any edge AC may have h...

electrical wiring

1

Q: Independent circuits on a common trip CB

Is it permissible under the 2014 NEC to feed two independent 120VAC branch circuits from a common trip (aka double pole) circuit breaker? The circuits do not share a neutral wire, and are ordinary 20A branch circuits otherwise.

electrical code-compliance nec

BESW

@Ben If it were D&D, the reason would probably be "yeah, I used to be a bear god, but then I killed an earthquake god and a stealth god and now I've got their portfolios too."

Shalvenay

1

Q: Bus Pirate binary protocol gets stuck in BBIO mode (or an invalid state) after a bulk transfer operation

I have a v.3a (SFE) Bus Pirate with v6.1 firmware, and am trying to make it talk binary SPI mode (to an AT89LP51, btw). Things start off OK, until I try to perform a bulk transfer operation (using pyBusPirateLite's bulk_trans() function). Afterwards, the Bus Pirate gets stuck in binary bitbang ...

spi bus-pirate

Ben

@BESW Were you at my last job interview, by any chance?

BESW

02:20

Not that anyone can prove.

Shalvenay

1

Q: Are well-known IR AAMs 'compatible' with aircraft from other countries?

The AA-2 Atoll was a Russian reverse-engineered clone of the AIM-9B Sidewinder. There are some sources that indicate, with varying degrees of veracity, that it was a good enough clone that the two could be used with the other side's aircraft (i.e. early MiGs launching Sidewinders and Western air...

military avionics missiles

@Ben -- yeah, those are the handful of questions I have that stand out to me as getting nil or near-nil attention

and actually, a few more:

3

Q: Simulating a thermopile on the bench -- is this a reasonable/reasonably accurate way to do it?

Primer Most people know about 24V HVAC control systems, as that's what's commonly found on furnaces, heat pumps, central air conditioners, and other such systems. If you have electric unit or radiant heat, you may have seen line-voltage thermostats as well that run directly on mains voltage. ...

voltage-regulator thermocouple testbench

3

Q: AT89LP51ED2 SPI ISP -- First attempt to enter ISP mode after reset yields wrong data back, but second attempt works

I have a board using an AT89LP51ED2 from Atmel -- this is an 8051-derivative with on-board Flash program memory and a SPI ISP interface, which I am using my Bus Pirate to drive (30kHz speed, pullups ON and wired to the board Vcc, default SPI settings otherwise, the AUX pin driving /RESET). The I...

spi debugging 8051 isp

Ben

@Shalvenay From a general scroll over these questions, they are very specific scenarios.

Shalvenay

and one that managed to get just enough, but I was shocked it didn't get more folks sniffing around:

2

Q: 8051 serial routine returns all 1s despite apparently valid data being on the bus

So, I am trying to receive synchronous serial data from a DS1306 in 3-wire mode using mode 0 of my AT89LP51ED2's USART. However, my serial read routine is returning all 1s instead of valid data, even though valid data appears to be on the serial bus according to what I see on my oscilloscope, th...

microcontroller uart debugging 8051 rtc

Ben

They would generally require an expert (or someone willing to spend the effort doing the research)

Shalvenay

@Ben I agree that the questions require significant expertise to answer (part of the reason I'm asking them) but it seems like people are very reluctant with upvoting the question for that matter -- is there something wrong with the question itself besides being relatively specific?

Ben

02:28

@Shalvenay I would say that may be due to the very technical information you have in the questions. Like your AC cable question - there isn't much in it that I would see as "technical information". It's just "why are they using an AC Cable?"

Whereas the others have all sorts of anagrams and serial number-like strings of text. Personally, When I see these types of things, if I don't know what they are as soon as I read them, I lose interest, because I don't know what the question is on about anymore

Shalvenay

hey there @nitsua60

Ben

Like if I asked a question about "how do I florglegork the grundyvine, so that I don't trundlehook my urselflurp?" You'd likely go "...huh?" and need more clarification to what I'm on about. (While this is actual gibberish, if this was an actual thing, it would make sense to me, but not to someone else that wasn't in the know)

And for the most part, save for the elite few, most of the SE users are just average joes that are bludging during work hours.

2

I know that's not very helpful to you, but that's what I see from those questions

Miniman

@Ben This is an important point - people will do the work to understand a question if they're interested in answering it, but not if they're just thinking about whether to upvote it.

Adeptus

@Shalvenay Bus Pirates?

Shalvenay

@Adeptus dangerousprototypes.com/docs/Bus_Pirate

Ben

02:43

I like Adeptus' better

Ben

02:58

Actually actual

Joel Harmon

@Shalvenay I think question upvotes correlate strongly with title snappiness (corollary: HNQ)

Ben

You ever go back and read something you wrote and realise you used one word almost constantly?

Joel Harmon

@Ben I have, but it bothers me more when professional authors do it

Miniman

@Ben I cringe pretty much whenever I read my own writing.

Ben

@JoelHarmon I was having a conversation about the "art of editing" - editors read the book, not the story.

So yeah, when they read the words, and come back with a sentence that is worse than the one you delivered, I can understand that

@Miniman I feel that

Joel Harmon

03:01

@Ben whenever people ask me to edit something (much less frequently now that I'm not in school) I ask them what I'm editing for. Spelling and grammar is not the same as content.

Miniman

@Ben Yeah, I read an interview somewhere where one of the editors for a major book series was saying how people would ask for spoilers, and he'd be like "Well, they used a lot of multi-line dialogue. But I can't tell you anything about the plot, I didn't read it."

Which explains why continuity errors slip through in a lot of cases.

Ben

@JoelHarmon That is a very good point. I've had people ask me to "proof read", and when I deliver my feedback, it might not be what they were looking for.

Joel Harmon

In general, figuring out what people actually want before doing much work is a very valuable skill.

Miniman

@Ben I've only really performed that service for fellow students with ESL problems, and I always knew exactly what they wanted me to look for :)

Joel Harmon

I actually much prefer helping with ESL problems over EFL problems.

Miniman

03:05

My mastery of the language wouldn't allow me to help with anything except the most egregious EFL problems.

godskook

ESL/EFL?

Miniman

@godskook English as a Second/First Language.

Joel Harmon

English as Second Language

godskook

Ah

I see

Joel Harmon

I don't think EFL is commonly used, but ESL definitely is

Ben

03:06

34 mins ago, by Ben

Like if I asked a question about "how do I florglegork the grundyvine, so that I don't trundlehook my urselflurp?" You'd likely go "...huh?" and need more clarification to what I'm on about. (While this is actual gibberish, if this was an actual thing, it would make sense to me, but not to someone else that wasn't in the know)

cc @Miniman @JoelHarmon lol

Miniman

Even helping with ESL, a lot of the time my advice would be "this is wrong, here's the right way to write it, but don't ask me why because I have no idea".

Ben

@Miniman I don't speak English. I speak Australian.

Miniman

@Ben Nah mate, your Aussie ain't even as strong as a dropbear's arse.

nitsua60

@Miniman I want to star this, but only to indicate that I, also, feel that way about my own writing--not that I feel that way about your writing =)

@Shalvenay hiya

Ben

:39194581 Bugger it. I thought it might be a little bit bad, but it can't be helped

Adeptus

03:16

@Ben I learned recently, that what is commonly called proof reading, is more correctly called line editing. Real proof reading is, reading the "proof" copy of the printed book, and comparing to the original manuscript, to check for transcription errors.

Shalvenay

@nitsua60 how're things going?

Ben

@Adeptus The more you know

Shalvenay

@Adeptus it's a shame that those things still happen in 2017 btw

(transcription errors that is)

Ben

There is also, the "most Australian sentence":

Miniman

G'day mate!

Adeptus

03:18

@Shalvenay Probably a lot less these days, since the manuscript & formatted-for-print copy are usually both digital. So most "transcription" will be ctrl-c, ctrl-v.

Ben

> Oi Shazza, if you're going on a maccas run, d'ya think we can stop by the servo to pick up some durries and then to the bottle-o to get some grog or nah?"

Miniman

@Ben I usually see a mention of Shazza in there, but yeah.

nitsua60

@Shalvenay Good--survived my trip to AL tonight! Sheeting rain and driving wind doubled the length of the drive, and a tree came down about 200 yds in front of me. (As I was getting out to tow the tree off the road I heard the radio announcer mention "chance of passing showers or thunderstorms this afternoon.")

Adeptus

@Miniman Is that "nah, yeah" or "yeah, nah"?

Miniman

@Adeptus I've found myself doing that lately, and it even confuses me.

Ben

03:21

@Adeptus In that instance, it'd be "nah, but yeah"

Shalvenay

@nitsua60 lol

@Adeptus it still happens way too often sadly

SevenSidedDie

@Baskakov_Dmitriy Looks like that was @doppelgreener's doing, so might want to ask them. (My guess: it was going in an unproductive direction and had no lasting value?)

nitsua60

(I actually already asked greener, but it's the wee hours in their location, so I expect an answer could be a half-day in the coming.)

Ben

Ty for that removal

nitsua60

@Ben np. Understandable, both in the original posting and in the retrospective concern.

Ben

03:35

@nitsua60 For some reason I had assumed that he was actually Australian too haha when you said "wee hours" I got confused

Adeptus

@Ben Australian, but living in London now

Ben

@Adeptus Well there you go. That makes more sense

nitsua60

Sep 9 '16 at 11:06, by doppelgreener

Everything in London is slightly smaller than in Australia, except for the servings of chips and the beers, which are much larger.

Ben

@nitsua60 Top gear summed it up nicely. They weer on a cattle farm in Australia, herding cows. They were told that this farm is 3.2 million acres.

> Jeremy Clarkson: And to put that in perspective, this single farm is the same size as Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire and Surrey and East Sussex and West Sussex and Kent, combined. It's the same size as the South East of England! 'Everything you see here, and a lot more besides, is one farm.

Miniman

@trogdor Yeah, comments like this still blow my mind - long-distance car journeys have been a constant part of my life since well before I can remember.

Ben

03:43

Let's bring some numbers into this.

Australia is more or less the same size as the US (minus Alaska).

It has a population less than Texas.

All of which, minus a city or two, sits on the coast, primarily on the East side of the country.

The average farm size for USA is 170ha, UK has 57ha, and continental Europe is 20ha, while in Australia it is 3,300ha[1].

I mean, yes, 3 million acres is f***ing huge, but it's only #9 in the list of largest stations in Australia, the largest sits just shy of 7 million acres.[2]

Ben